Avanti to launch broadband satellite on Friday

Avanti is all set to launch its broadband satellite Hylas 1 at the end of the week.

Hylas 1 will provide broadband coverage across Europe, and will be able to reach users in more remote areas, or so-called broadband not-spots where cable and ADSL aren’t workable or economically viable.

The satellite will orbit at a height of around 36,000 kilometers, and will provide connections from 2Mbps up to 10Mbps (although theoretically, it could gun away at 200Mbps). It aims to supply around 350,000 users across Europe, according to a ZDNet UK report, although it won’t reach Scandinavia.

Avanti CEO David Williams rubbished the idea of satellite latency issues when he told ZDNet: “It’s a very, very powerful satellite. Latency is a bit of a myth. If the military is prepared to use K-band satellites to pilot real-time unmanned aerial vehicles, which are actually conducting war-fighting operations, I don’t see how latency can pose a problem for someone playing an online game.”

Hylas 2 is expected to launch at some point next year. That will be the bigger brother to this satellite, serving closer to a million customers, providing 8,280MHz of bandwidth compared to the 3,000MHz offered by Hylas 1.